Mounties stun Sharks with second-half blitz

Mounties tonight moved into the top four of the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Premiership after a come-from-behind 30-12 win over Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks at the NSWRL Centre of Excellence.

Mounties piled on four tries in the second half to lift them from fifth to second on the table. The club is tied with the Central Coast Roosters on 10 competition points, but have a marginally worse for-and-against.

Coach Grant Izzard said he wasn’t concerned by the ladder position as there were still four rounds to go before finals “and anything can happen”.

But he liked the way his players readied themselves for the second half, led by a powerful forward pack including prop Kerehitina Matua who was named Player of the Match.

“The tide turned in the second half after we started to own the final 10 minutes of the first,” he said.

“To defend a few sets on our line just before half-time, that set us up to go back to what we do best in the second. We did a bit of work on the back five of the Sharks because we know the speed they’ve got out there.”

It was tough going for both sides in the first half with an 8-6 score line in Cronulla’s favour reflecting that. 

The Sharks were ahead despite working like trojans in the opening 35 minutes, defending too many sets on their goal-line.

“We showed some really good resilience in the first half but Mounties came out of the break better than we did and we weren’t able to repel them,” Sharks coach Ruan Sims said.

“We made error after error and that kept putting more pressure on our defensive system and we let a few tries leak through towards the end.”

The Sharks also battled adversity after losing strike centre Andie Robinson with a suspected fractured cheekbone, while halfback Maddie Studdon left the field with a right knee injury with six minutes left on the clock.

Mounties’ first try to second rower Tommaya Kelly-Sines (pictured above) didn’t come until the 22nd minute, when she pushed through after sustained attack.

The Sharks rare visits into Mounties territory in the first half did produce two tries – to winger Zali Fay and lock Brooke Anderson. The scorecard could have looked far more healthy but hooker Quincy Dodd and prop Ellie Johnston were held up over the line.

But in the second half, it was more of the same with Mounties peppering the Sharks line resulting in their second try – this time to back-rower Laishon Albert Jones.

The conversion by Matilda Power gave Mounties the lead for the first time (12-8). They extended their buffer less than 10 minutes later, when Aaliyah Lomas swallowed up a grubber in the in-goal (18-8).

Cronulla pulled one back, when centre Kiana Takairangi made an angled dash to the line. But halfback Studdon was having an unhappy night with the boot missing all three conversions before hobbling off with injury.

Mounties outside backs Haylee Hifo and Brooke Wilkins crossed in the left corner within three minutes of each other to seal the result.

Power converted both tries from the sideline to keep her 100 per cent kicking record intact (5-5).